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THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
The Rural New-Yorker 
THE BUSINESS FABMER 'S PAPER 
A Notional Weekly Journal 4'or Country mid Suburban Home* * 
Established isso 
Published weekly by the Ktiral Pnbll .ng Company. 388 IVeit Stub Street, New York 
Herbert W. Coi.i.isgwooi), President and Etlitor. 
Jons' J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm F. Dillon, Secretary. MRS. E. T. Koylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union, $2.04. equal to 8s. Gd., or 
%y i marks, or 10}£ francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal check or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Offlee as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates GO cents per agate line—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. But to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to paid 
subset ibet s sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising in our 
nnd nnv uiinli lavintllpr will 1)P nilllliclv ©XPOSCll. '» C pi’OtCCt SUD* 
columns, and any such swindler will be publicly exposed. _ 
scribers against rogues* but we do not guarantee to adjust trifling <*iuei ences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither v ill we bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by die co ute. 
Notice of the complaint must ho sent- to us within one month of the tlmoof 
the transaction, and you must have mentioned The Rural New-Yorker 
when writing the advertiser. • 
Our old friend E. W. Philo seems to be interested 
in the sale of land near Lemon City, Florida. Lemon 
City! Can anyone, under all the circumstances, 
think of a more appropriate name? It might have 
been Brooderville or Fireless Haven or some other 
place suggested by the thought of making $(5,000 in a 
backyard. Lemon City, however, seems to us most 
appropriate. We shall perhaps be joined in this 
opinion by. parties who have been handed a slice of 
Lemon City land. 
* 
Some of the papers do not seem to iit the Leg¬ 
horns. Mr. Barron’s stock having made good rec¬ 
ords at the egg-laying contests, we have a crop of 
breeders starting in to claim that they offer genuine 
“Barron” stock. This is getting so that we shall, if 
possible, obtain the names of breeders who have 
really imported Barron's birds and endeavor to shut 
off the fakes. We expect that this thing will Be¬ 
come a nuisance by next season, and it. is time now 
to begin to shut it off. We warn our readers now 
not to buy any of this so-called “Barron stock” un¬ 
til the breeder has been fully investigated and made 
to prove his claims. 
* 
The first large direct consignment of fresh beef 
from Argentina to New York was unloaded Septem¬ 
ber 10, consisting of 1,000 quarters, or about 
300.000 pounds. This was largely Alfalfa-fed and 
of good quality, selling on a par with native beef. 
At present there is a duty of \ x h cent per pound on 
meats of this class. The Underwood Bill will ad¬ 
mit them free, and it is naturally expected that 
imports of beef and mutton will increase when that 
is in force. Just what effect these imports will 
have on prices is a matter of conjecture, but there 
is little probability of a material lowering. Neither 
in Argentina nor Australia is there a great surplus 
of beef, prices on good quarters there ranging from 
$0 to $10 per 100 pounds. There is little doubt that 
most of the profit in imported beef will lie pocketed 
by our well-organized meat handlers here. They 
have all the machinery for controlling the busi¬ 
ness: can buy and store and hold and make prices 
to suit themselves. There is more hope of cheaper 
mutton than cheaper beef, as mutton can he pro¬ 
duced more quickly and is not so profitable to store. 
In fact if the dogs were taken care of, New Eng¬ 
land could profitably produce mutton enough to 
carve a large slice from our growing meat shortage. 
* 
As you know, we think the fires of true progress 
are started by tlie sparks thrown out when opposite 
opinions clash. Here are two opinions about the 
agricultural colleges: 
No. 1. 
I am sorry to see any suggestion of criticism of our 
agricultural colleges. They are doing a noble work and 
deserve great praise. s. n. 
No. 2. 
I hope you will not let up on the agricultural col¬ 
leges. From many years’ experience in them I know 
that they need your prodding. Commercialism, classi- 
calism and Carnegieism have too much influence' in 
them. They ought to have been teaching the selling 
end of farming for years. a. j. 
We think the agricultural colleges are fairly sub¬ 
ject to criticism. The thing which is actually above 
criticism is usually dead. Grant that the colleges 
are doing a noble work; no one will claim that they 
are doing all they should or all they are capable of 
doing. We agree with the statement that they 
should have been teaching the selling end years ago. 
They will not teach it now except as the result of 
criticism. Everyone knows that when these colleges 
really begin to develop a political economy which 
will sift out tlie real vital wrongs of agriculture they 
will antagonize mighty interests which now greatly 
approve of the “two blades of grass” theory. We 
have great faith in the future of these colleges be¬ 
cause we know that in good time the farmers will 
control them, take off their broadcloth and make 
them put on overalls. 
You advise us only to ship to licensed commission 
merchants. IIow' are we to know who are licensed? 
s. s. n. 
We have stated eight, times that the Department 
of Agriculture at Albany, N. Y., has issued a bulle¬ 
tin giving names of licensed commission men. It is 
called Circular 69, and 542 firms are recorded. The 
list gives not only names and addresses, but the 
classes of goods which these commission men handle. 
Every man who ships goods into this State should 
have this list for reference. It is free—send for it. 
It does not follow that because the men named in 
this list have obtained licenses they are business 
angels or true exemplars of the Golden Rule. We 
have found a few shady characters in the list, but 
each of these people lias given bond for $3,000. 
They cannot fly by night away from that money if 
you can prove that they did not give you a square 
deal. 
* 
Congressman Glass again! lie is the gentleman 
from Virginia who is greatly opposed to grain gam- 
-bling—as a Congressman. In that capacity such 
opposition does not cost Mr. Glass anything but 
gives him a fine war cry. As a publisher, however, 
the Congressman seems to be looking through a 
glass darkly, for he permits a well-known “bucket 
shop” to advertise in his paper. His neighbors look 
right through Mr. Glass. Here is a note from a man 
in his home town: 
We haven’t anything personal against Mr. Glass, in 
fact, we are admirers of him. but we did think it strange 
that his paper should accept such advertisements, es¬ 
pecially in view of the fact that Mr. Glass states he 
is not an advocate of future trading in grain. 
When a prophet has no honor in liis own country 
there is always something else which comes in to 
take the vacant place. It. is usually a reflection of 
the things which the prophet has done to insure 
a profit. 
They are having an old-fashioned election for 
Assemblyman in Wayne County, N. Y. The old- 
fashioned way was to forget about party lines and 
vote for the. man who would do what you wanted 
doue. The new fashion is to put men on both tickets 
who are so far away from the people that you might 
as well toss up a cent to decide which to vote for. 
We have no wish to interfere with the local politics 
of Wayne County, hut in this case there is a prin¬ 
ciple at stake. Elliot B. Norris, former master of 
the New York State Grange, was nominated on a 
platform which clearly states many of the things 
which The R. N.-Y. stands for. If Mr. Norris is 
elected he will have to support direct primaries, and 
all legislation which gives the people greater power 
over their representatives. As it happens the issue 
is clear cut and straight between progressive legis¬ 
lation and the old hide-bound theory of politics. We 
do not attempt to tell people how they should vote, 
but in the present line-up in Wayne County a vote 
for Mr. Norris is a vote for the better things of 
public life. 
Mr. Sweet is correct in saying that Tiie R. N.-Y. 
is prepared to give the Red hen a fair showing. We 
extend the same courtesies to hens that we do to 
men. White, black, buff, red or speckled, if they 
do their duty honestly they should have fair credit. 
We have much to say about Leghorns lately because 
that breed has done things that are worth talking 
about. Their ability to lay eggs in an open-front 
house in a cold country has put them out of the 
“pet” class for good. Breeders of other breeds must 
recognize what these poultry contests have done for 
Leghorns. There may lie some significance in saying 
that the Leghorns have won new spurs, and that is 
about it. But there are others. The Red lien pic¬ 
tured mi the first page came from Kentucky, and 
in the first contest in Connecticut she laid 254 eggs 
in one year. There is no guesswork about this— 
she led all the rest, and that makes her something 
of a hen. Yet there is danger ahead for the Reds. 
The fanciers seem to have marked the breed for 
their own. They want to train birds for a 300-egg 
record, do they? They haven’t mentioned any such 
desire. What they are after is uniform color or 
shape of toenail or some other exterior point. To 
improve color or shape they would, if the fancy 
struck them, reduce the vitality of the breed and 
disregard its high capacity for laying. The Red 
hen does not depend on handsome tail feathers or 
deep red plumage to lay eggs. The fine feathers 
might go with a champion layer, hut alone they will 
not make a fine bird. The fanciers will surely take 
the Red hen out of the prize-winning class at egg 
contests if they have their way unrestricted. They 
will ruin the Red as a good egg sandwich bird if 
they are not headed off. The real friends of the 
Red hen must take hold of the bird and breed her 
for vitality and laying capacity. The world cannot 
live upon a mouthful of feathers—it must have eggs 
and meat.- 
September 27, 
This may lie called the machinery season on the 
farm. Harvesting, silo filling, haling and husking 
all mean pitting human skill and activity against 
powerful and cruel machinery. It is a time for 
warning, for hardly a day passes without some news¬ 
paper record of a frightful accident like the fol¬ 
lowing : 
Elyria, <).. Sept. 4.—William Bair, 20. of Cleveland, 
engaged in baling hay on Arthur Versoy’s farm, east 
of Oberlin, met a terrible death when he stepped on the 
baler and slipped. Bair shot head first, into the baler 
and the forks of the machine stuffed the man into a 
four-inch space. Farm hands who had gathered to 
assist in harvesting were helpless to remove the bale of 
hay to extricate what was left of the body. 
You cannot he too careful when working around 
these powerful machines. Children and drunken 
men or people given to “fooling” ought not to he per¬ 
mitted to come near a machine of lliis kind. 
* 
I enclose a clipping from the last week’s issue of 
the Saturday Evening Post which makes very disap¬ 
pointing reading for the “two blades of grass” gentle¬ 
men. To my mind it thoroughly clinches your argu¬ 
ment. C. W. M. 
Maryland. 
We thought this lmd been clinched until the nails 
came through to the top side. The article spoken 
of says that in 1680 the Virginia tobacco crops were 
so large that a year’s yield would hardly clothe a 
family. In those days farmers tried mob law on 
the “two blades of grass theory” and went about 
destroying crops. The Post goes on to say: 
Last year’s average corn yield to the acre was under 
30 bushels. It might easily have been 40. If it had 
been prices would have fallen below the cost of produc¬ 
tion. In short, in a good year we could easily produce 
a surplus that would carry us tidily through a bad 
year; but if farmers did produce any such surplus in a 
good year we would requite their pains by bankrupting 
them. When a bad year comes we see that a sur¬ 
plus carried over from good years would be convenient; 
but the penalty of producing any important surplus is 
bankruptcy for the producer. 
That is right, but the railroads and the handlers 
have fat times with a bumper crop. When the 
farmer gets 20 cents for a bushel of potatoes the 
railroads charge just as much for hauling it as when 
the farm price is one dollar. The producer is the 
only one who suffers from a bumper crop. We have 
kept at this idea for so many years that it seems 
good to have influential papers come in and help. 
It is all a part of making that 35-ceut-dollar propo¬ 
sition a part of popular thought. 
* 
Investigations into tHo “bud sports” which, by 
their variation from type, may affect the ultimate 
profit of au orchard, bring up a subject of interest 
to all fruit growers. It is true that all sueii changes 
are not permanent; there are “discontinuous mu¬ 
tations,” as the Dutch botanist De Vries terms them, 
but the history of the Bride rose is an interesting 
example of a “saltatory variation” that was perma¬ 
nently fixed. In 1880 a New Jersey florist noticed 
a distinct variation in a plant of the Catherine 
Meriuet rose. This is a Tea rose sent out by Guillot 
tils in 1S69, normally flesh pink, a moderate bloomer. 
A single branch on the sporting plant bore a white 
flower, and cuttings rooted from this branch con¬ 
tinued to bear white flowers, and proved more free 
in bloom than the pink-flowered parent. The pro¬ 
geny of that single branch has been grown under 
greenhouse and outdoor conditions all over the 
world, during the past 30 years—and it continues 
to carry its original character. Later the Mermet 
sported into several other variations, deeper in 
color than the parent, and one of these. Bridesmaid, 
has largely displaced Mermet as a cut flower. It Is 
interesting to note that in the very same greenhouse 
in which “The Bride” first appeared, La France, a 
silvery pink rose, once gave a sport of bright cherry 
red, but the sporting branch was stolen, presumably 
by a dishonest employe, and, apparently, was not 
successfully propagated, thus being lost. The his¬ 
tory of the Bride rose surely accentuates the value 
of study as to hud sports in commercial horticulture. 
BREVITIES. 
When in doubt about drinking water—boil it. 
Rum spells ruin to any business it is poured into. 
Mighty convenient to have a good crop of mangels 
this Fall. 
In the grab for gold both wise and fool forget the 
thought of the golden rule. 
The theory of a permanent pasture is to plant a 
variety of grass which will ripen and grow with differ¬ 
ent conditions and seasons. 
It will be too late to sow Alfalfa in this latitude by 
September 15. As for pasturing a new seeding next 
Spring—never. 
You will not obtain full benefit from a silo until you 
put concrete on your stable floor. Any succulent food 
increases the stable liquids, and they contain the solu¬ 
ble plant food. 
No, sir—we would not accept or use any large quan¬ 
tity of grass or clover seed without first having it tested 
by tin- State or National experiment stations. It is 
your privilege to have this done. 
